Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), American actress and singer of German descent. She was born Maria Magdalene Dietrich von Losch in Berlin, and trained for the stage at the school of the noted theatrical director Max Reinhardt. During the 1920s she became a performer in the Berlin theatre and in silent films, and in 1924 married the German casting director Rudolf Sieber.

The American film director Josef von Sternberg cast her in the leading female role of Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), filmed in Berlin between 1929 and 1930, in both German and English versions. Her haunting and sensuous singing and acting in this film created a sensation. As a result, Dietrich was brought to the United States, where she starred in a series of films under von Sternberg's direction, including Morocco (1930) and The Devil Is a Woman (1935). For other directors she appeared in Desire (1936) and Destry Rides Again (1939).

Denouncing the nationalism of post-World War I Germany, she became an American citizen in 1939. During World War II she made more than 500 appearances before American troops overseas. Her post-war films include Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She also became hugely popular as a nightclub performer, appearing in concerts around the world. She appeared in her last film, Just a Gigolo (1978), alongside David Bowie.